COVID, space, and some desperately needed rain, this week

Bill Radke discusses the week's news with KIRO7 government and politics reporter Essex Porter, Seattle Times senior investigative editor Jonathan Martin, and contributing writer at Seattle Gay News and Tacoma Weekly, Renee Raketty.

That’s right, it’s finally time to break out those windbreakers; this weekend the Seattle area is set to get pummeled by rain this weekend. The National Weather Service predicts 50 mph winds and 10 times the precipitation we had across the entire summer.

As exciting (or dreaded) this news is, it does signal the end of a summer that was predicted to be miserable from wildfire smoke/ With last year’s apocalyptic, Mars-like images still in mind, officials predicted another year of toxic smoke levels throughout Western Washington. And yet, coastal fronts continued to keep the air clear (save for occasional days throughout the summer). Why was Western Washington largely spared from the terrible smoke we were predicted to see this summer?

Also, 1 in every 500 Americans have died of Covid, according to Johns Hopkins University data. As of Tuesday, the US had averaged more than 152,300 new Covid cases each day over the past week -- more than 13 times than what it was on June 22, when the average was at its lowest of 2021. Covid patients are cramming hospitals across the country, including in Washington. Eastern Washington hospitals are full and looking to shift patients to accommodate further cases, as well as Idaho patients who can’t receive medical care in their own state due to overcrowding.

The Stranger recently wrote that Seattle is in a “covid bubble” -- safe from some of the harsh impacts of covid due to high vaccination rates and strict masking policies. Do they have a point? Has Seattle seen less of those 1 in 500 deaths? And do you think that bubble is likely to burst?

And Health experts say that vaccination is the best source of protection against the virus -- but that doesn’t mean everyone’s on board. At least 8% of Washington’s state government workers, around 4,799 people, have requested an exemption from the state’s vaccine mandate. Not all of those exemption requests will be approved, and even for the ones that are, the employee can still be fired if accommodations can’t be found for them.

Washington state employees have also filed a lawsuit over the vaccine mandate -- The Northwest News Network reports the lawsuit filed by more than 90 workers last Friday in Walla Walla County says the mandate is unlawful and unconstitutional. And that the penalty for not vaccinating, being fired, is "arbitrary and capricious". Does this lawsuit have a case? Could these employees get the vaccine mandate lifted? And, is 8% that much? Are we making a mountain out of a molehill when we say “8% of employees request exemptions'' as opposed to “92% of employees don’t request exemptions”? How much attention should we be giving the relatively small number of people that are pushing back against a vaccine mandate? Or are we wrong to assume this number is small?

One particular state employee is receiving special attention for their vaccine status -- WSU football coach Nick Rolovich. Rolovich announced in July that he would not be vaccinated for “reasons which will remain private”. He has said he will follow the mandate, but neither he, nor anyone at WSU, have said if that means getting vaccinated, asking for an exemption, or being fired when the October 18th due date hits. Why is Rolovich’s vaccine status such a big deal? Is it just that he’s a public figure? Or does his decision have a larger impact on WSU than, for instance, a professor who's chosen not to get vaccinated?

In other news this week, SpaceX successfully sent the first citizens to space. Jared Isaacman, Hayley Arceneaux, Sian Proctor, and Chris Sembroski will trace an orbit over the earth for three days in what’s now become the first non-governmental mission to space. Sembroski is actually an Everett native, and works as a data engineer for Lockheed Martin -- on board, he’ll be in charge of medical experiments and managing flown-in-space items (and we’re calling dibs on the ukelele he’s bringing). The crew was selected through a charity lottery system, where guests received a ticket in exchange for a donation (Isaacman, the lead for the flight, paid upward of $100 million to secure his spot). What are people saying about the first civilian space crew to make it to space?

Plus, a new Crosscut/Elway poll shows Bruce Harrel leading over city council president Lorena Gonzalez in the race for mayor. 42% of likely voters surveyed said they’d be voting for Harrel, where only 27% said they’d be voting for his opponent. Similar results came in for other local candidates, with more moderate city council candidate Sarah Nelson leading over Nikkita Oliver, and Republican city attorney candidate Ann Davison leading over police abolitionist Nicole Thomas-Kennedy.

All of these results should be taken with the caveat that a large percentage of the voters polled said they were still undecided. So how closely should we study these results? What do they say about how voters are feeling, and what issues are driving their decisions when it comes to city candidates? And why are so many voters still undecided? Are they just not paying attention to the candidates yet?

On a state level, an article in Buzzfeed this week reported that Washington Representative Pramilla Jayapal, known as a champion of the worker, doesn’t treat her own employees very well. Four anonymous past employees spoke to Buzzfeed, which said they “described Jayapal as a boss who berated staff in front of others, demanded grueling hours, and maintained an office culture marked by constantly changing expectations and little tolerance for error, to the extent that some staffers sought therapy and questioned their careers in public service.” The article also points to high staff turnover in Jayapal’s office -- ranking 33rd in turnover out of 539 members between 2017 and 2020.

In response to this story, Jayapal’s chief of staff, Lilah Pomerance, said “Women of color are often unjustly targeted, regularly held to higher standards than their male colleagues, and always put under a sexist microscope.” Which is a good point -- so how should we consider this article? Jayapal is a person in a position of power, but she is also a woman of color, a group that’s often held to higher standards. How do we balance those points when talking about articles such as this? And will this report have any lasting impact on Jayapal? Will she make policy changes as a result, or face a more difficult race next time she’s up for re-election?

This week, California state governor Gavin Newsom defeated a recall attempt that aimed to kick him out of office. It was a quick decision -- with Newsom ahead by a 30 point margin before in-person polls even opened. Democrats are calling this a win for the party, and proof that California residents approve of Newsom’s strict Covid policies, including a vaccine and mask mandate. What can we take away from this recall attempt? Does it say anything about how Americans are thinking about next year’s midterm election, or even about our upcoming state and city elections? Or will it have an impact on state or federal Covid policies?

The Seattle City Council met for a discussion on the city’s budget this week, and front and center was a series of votes on Seattle Police funding and where savings from lower staff numbers should go. Councilmember Alex Pederson introduced a number of amendments to the budget that would give the SPD more funds for hiring, training, and retaining officers. The amendments failed, keeping funding at levels in the previously negotiated and approved budget. What amendments were proposed? What is SPD losing out on since the amendments failed? What is SPD getting from the city council in this coming budget?

More than 200 officers and detectives left the SPD in the last year-plus, a trend that many are correlating with higher crime rates and longer response times. “I don’t even call the police anymore, there’s no point,” one Pioneer Square business owner told the Seattle Times’ Danny Westneat. In the wake of the Defund the Police movement, the City Council has promised to dedicate more money to mental health and emergency services in an effort to reduce the number of armed police responses. That remains true as this week, the council approved $700,000 for a “Triage One” crisis team pilot, set to begin running early next year.

What’s more, Crosscut reported this week that there’s been a 45% drop in the number of police responding to mental health calls this August (when new state laws regarding the use of force went into effect). That’s seen as a win for some, but the gap in time between available alternatives and the current police staffing shortage is leaving many cases unaddressed at all. What’s being done right now to make up for the lack of responsiveness from SPD? There are fewer officers responding to mental health emergencies -- is that being seen as a win for the Defund movement? What needs to be done to improve safety and responsiveness from the police? How will this year’s elections impact the city’s future approach to policing?

And lastly, this summer, alongside the Olympics, another tough race was being run: the race to fill Jeopardy’s hosting position. After a series of guest hosts, actress Mayim Bialik and producer Mike Richards were selected as final hosts -- to the consternation of many a Jeopardy! fan. Then, Richards was outed from the position after a series of past inappropriate comments came to light, again reigniting passionate calls for Ken Jennings and Lavar Burton to take up the mantle.

Well, as of this week, local favorite and Jeopardy! GOAT Ken Jennings was announced to be taking up Richards’ vacancy through the end of the year. How big a deal is this for you? Jeopardy is a famously tame program -- how has the recent controversy over filling Alex Trebek’s shoes changed the way the program is viewed? How important is a host for a show -- especially for a program like, say, Week in Review?